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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23764984">The Raddest Avenger</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sally0/pseuds/Sally0'>Sally0</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Humor, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Surfing, beach, tony stark is a little shit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:07:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,738</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23764984</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sally0/pseuds/Sally0</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce, Peter and Tony are hanging out at the beach, and Bruce agrees to give the other two a surfing lesson when they find out he knows how to surf. They get really good really fast, but unfortunately not because of Bruce’s teaching skills.</p><p>For Bruce Banner Appreciation week! The prompt I chose: <b>Mistakes</b></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bruce Banner &amp; Peter Parker, Bruce Banner &amp; Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark, Bruce Banner &amp; Tony Stark, Tony Stark &amp; Peter Parker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>97</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bruceweek</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Raddest Avenger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I had hoped to get this out for Saturday (the day that had “Mistakes” as one of the prompts) but I’m a terribly slow writer at the best of times. I’m pretty happy I was able to get it out this fast, tbh!</p><p>Thank you SO much to my lovely beta reader, <a href="https://whumphoarder.tumblr.com/">Whumphoarder</a>, for perfecting Tony's snark and saving me from all the repetition I'm guilty of when writing quickly. She's the raddest beta reader!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Tony and Peter convinced Bruce to join them for an afternoon at the Malibu beach one Saturday, they figured they’d be bringing the scientist way out of his comfort zone and that there was a definite possibility of the outing being cut short if Bruce wanted to leave early.</p><p>Bruce knew that his reputation on the team was as a geeky, reclusive scientist. And he was OK with that. It was true, for the most part. But what his friends didn’t know was that the geeky scientist chapter of Bruce’s life only began in grad school, and his reclusiveness only started after his little green problem came along. His life used to be quite different before dedicating himself to academia (and hiding from the military for those few unfortunate years).</p><p>But now that his life had settled down somewhat—he’d been officially pardoned by the government, and Hulk was learning and growing and becoming much more than the enormous green rage monster everyone had pegged him for—Bruce saw no reason why he shouldn’t allow himself to enjoy some of the activities he used to in his youth.</p><p>“Wow, check out those surfers,” Peter observed, looking awestruck as he watched two surfers riding a three-footer. “That looks like so much fun.” He gazed down the long beach toward a small cabana surrounded by surfboards in the distance. “Mr. Stark, could we rent some surfboards and try it?”</p><p>Tony huffed. “I don’t know about you, kid, but I don’t know the first thing about surfing, and I’m pretty sure Bruce doesn’t, either. And those waves are huge.”</p><p>“C’mon, I have super powers!” Peter protested.</p><p>“Uh, last time I checked, itsy-bitsy was no match for the water spout. Your super powers won’t let you breathe underwater.”</p><p>Bruce sat up on his towel and moved his sunglasses to his forehead. “Well, actually…”</p><p>Tony gave him a confused look. “No, I’m pretty sure he can’t. The nursery rhyme was pretty firm on that point.”</p><p>“No, no. Not that. Just that, well, one of us here does know the first thing about surfing.”</p><p>Both Peter and Tony stared at him.</p><p>“<em>You?” </em>asked Peter. Then, apparently realizing his bluntness, he began backtracking. “I mean—not that—of course, why wouldn’t you be good at surfing? You’re so good at everything else.” He forced a grin.</p><p>“Nice save, kid,” said Tony with an eye-roll while Bruce chuckled at the kid’s awkwardness.</p><p>“But seriously, Bruce,” Tony continued. “Kid has a point. <em> You, </em>surf? Since when?”</p><p>“I thought you would’ve known,” replied Bruce. “I know you’ve read my whole SHIELD file.”</p><p>Tony looked completely unabashed. “Well yeah. So I know about your stint as the president of the Beverly Crusher fan club, and about the time you were arrested for all those unpaid parking tickets. But your file said nothing about <em> surfing. </em> I think I’d remember that.”</p><p>Bruce raised an eyebrow. “Well, it’s nice that there’s at least one thing they don’t know about me…” he muttered. “But to answer your question, I did part of my undergrad in Hilo, Hawaii. My degree had a concentration in thermonuclear astrophysics, so I did research at a few of the telescopes there, and surfed in my spare time. I won a few tournaments, which helped cover my living expenses.”</p><p>“Tournaments? Wow.” Tony nudged Peter. “Who would’ve guessed that Banner was in fact the raddest Avenger?” He looked back at Bruce and joked, “Should’ve called <em> you </em> Point Break instead of Thor.”</p><p>Bruce ducked his head a little at the compliment. “It was mostly just for fun. But I tried to keep it up as much as I could when I moved back here.”</p><p>“There can’t be many surfing spots in the northeast,” Tony said skeptically. “Unless you’re hanging ten at the YMCA.”</p><p>Bruce laughed at that. “No, but I did some of my studies out here, too, when I could. LA, Santa Cruz…anywhere with a beach and waves.”</p><p>“Right, you were at Caltech for a while, weren’t you?”</p><p>Bruce nodded. “Almost two years.”</p><p>“That was for your second PhD? Or your third?”</p><p>“Second.”</p><p>“The one about the anti-electron—”</p><p>“I think we’re getting a little far from the main point here,” interrupted Peter. “Which is that Dr. Banner can <em> surf </em>.” He looked at Bruce with puppy-dog eyes. “Could you teach me, Dr. Banner? I’m a really fast learner!”</p><p>Bruce glanced at Tony to see if he had any objections. To his surprise, Tony replied, “Only if I can get in on that, too.”</p><p>“Sure,” replied Bruce with a smile as he stood up. “It’s been a while, but I always pick it up pretty quickly even after a long break.”</p><hr/><p>Peter hadn’t been joking; he was a very fast learner.</p><p>For one thing, his super strength meant he could propel himself a lot harder with his arms to gain speed before standing up to ride a wave. For another, he had pretty good balance, and it was only about fifteen minutes before he had figured out how to stand up on his own without falling.</p><p>Tony, on the other hand, was not faring as well.</p><p>“How does anyone stand on one of these for longer than three seconds?” he complained to Bruce after about his thirtieth time falling.</p><p>“You need to look forward as you’re paddling with your hands,” Bruce reminded him. He’d noticed that each triumphant shout from Peter at having successfully caught another wave drew Tony’s attention away from his own task at hand. And Bruce knew from experience that looking anywhere but straight ahead when paddling was the quickest way to lose balance when trying to stand up when a wave arrived.</p><p>“<em>He’s </em> not looking forward!” Tony observed, gesturing irritably at Peter.</p><p>Bruce watched Peter for a moment. He really did seem to have picked it up quickly, with minimal adherence to the guidelines Bruce had given him.</p><p>“Well, he’s a lot younger than you and me,” Bruce said with a shrug, making Tony scowl.</p><p>“I literally taught myself to<em> fly </em> in an afternoon,” he retorted. “This is just standing on a piece of polyurethane.”</p><p>Bruce considered that. It was true that Tony was usually an incredibly fast learner at most things he tried. But surfing definitely wasn’t like robotics, or physics, or even, apparently, propelling the Iron Man suit. And he could see that that fact was starting to frustrate Tony.</p><p>“Don’t stress too much about it,” he said kindly. “Different people are good at different things. And we all make mistakes when we’re learning a new skill.” He hoped his words of encouragement would help make Tony feel better and turn his attention away from Peter (who had just recovered spectacularly from a near-fall that Bruce had been certain would have him plunging head-first into the water).</p><p>When Tony didn’t look convinced, Bruce decided to try another angle. “Here, let’s try a different technique. Instead of popping into standing position in one motion, try one foot at a time. That usually works well for beginners, and older surfers.”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“Sorry. ‘Senior’ surfers,” Bruce amended with a wink.</p><p>“Pfft. Outta my way. ‘Senior surfer’ my ass.” Tony jumped on his board again and paddled out as Bruce watched. As he’d hoped, this time, Tony was able to stand up smoothly, and even rode the wave for a good ten seconds before falling.</p><p>“Ha!” Tony shouted when he returned to the surface. Bruce smiled at him encouragingly, honestly a little surprised at how easily the reverse psychology had worked.</p><p>Tony’s skill continued to improve after that, and Bruce was pleased to see that his mood improved quite a bit, too.</p><p>Until…</p><p>“Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner! Check it out! Backwards!”</p><p>Both Bruce and Tony, who were riding a decent-sized wave a few metres apart, swiveled their heads at the same time to see what on earth Peter could be talking about. Sure enough, the teenager was standing <em> backward </em> on his surfboard, effortlessly riding the same wave as they were.</p><p>The sudden turning of their heads made Bruce and Tony lose balance, and they both fell off their boards into the water at the same time. When Bruce surfaced, he caught sight of Tony sputtering from the sea water and reaching for his board.</p><p>“Peter Parker!” Tony shouted toward Peter (who had just finished with the wave and was back on his stomach again, paddling past Tony and Bruce toward the next one). “<em> Are you using your super powers to stick to that surfboard??” </em></p><p>“Of course!” Peter shouted back, grinning.</p><p>Tony sputtered some more, unable to think of a coherent response. He turned to Bruce. “That little shit!”</p><p>Bruce couldn’t help but chuckle at the whole situation. He was about to shrug and say something like “Well, can’t blame him for using the tools he’s got,” when suddenly Tony’s eyes lit up.</p><p>“Well, two can play at that game.” He tapped his arc reactor a few times and some nano-armour emerged from it, snaking down each of his arms until his hands were encased in Iron Man gauntlets. He hopped back onto his surfboard and paddled out to meet a wave.</p><p>Just as the wave reached his board, he stood up, and this time, instead of losing his balance, he started steadying himself with the repulsors in his gauntlets. For the first time, he was able to ride the wave almost all the way back to shore with total ease. Bruce heard him whoop in triumph.</p><p>Suddenly Bruce found himself the only one in the group who was at a disadvantage. He certainly couldn’t use <em> his </em> super power to help with surfing. </p><p>(An indignant voice grumbled in disagreement deep inside him, which he pointedly ignored.)</p><p>Determined to prove that the old-fashioned method of surfing could be just as good, he hopped back onto his board and paddled out to meet another wave. But the others’ antics must have gotten into his head, because a few seconds after standing up to ride a little two-footer, he accidentally leaned too far forward and his board did a nosedive into the water, followed by Bruce himself.</p><p>He returned to the surface just in time to see Tony sail past him effortlessly.</p><p>“Don’t stress, Bruciebear!” he shouted on his way by. “We all make mistakes when learning a new skill!”</p><p>Bruce ran a hand over his face to wipe the water off and scowled at Tony’s back. “That little shit,” he muttered.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Come hang out on <a href="https://sallyidss.tumblr.com">my tumblr</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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